by Terry 60 Replies latest watchtower bible
At one point they said Jesus should receive "relative worship."
Then they said "relative worship" was forbidden as idolatry.
Of course, the WTS continues to claim to be Christian -- with JWs being the only Christians on earth.
But you'd better talk a lot more about Jehovah and the "faithful and discreet slave" than about Jesus or you will be suspected of apostasy.
I just viewed the link to the charter and question a possible TYPO the last paragraph on the first Page
Seventh
II the Purpose of this Society are: "supremacy of Almighty Good JEHOVAH" this is the 4th line up from bottom.. Did they mean God and typed Good as elsewhere its Almighty God...
so much for God's direction and oversight
Some interesting insights on previous thinking.
Studies in the Scriptures Vol 6 page 242
"the real need of the Church of Christ is still more
liberty-until each individual member shall stand free and independent of all human bonds,
creeds, confessions, etc. With each individual Christian standing fast in the liberty wherewith he
was made free by the Lord (Gal. 5:1; John 8:32), and each individual Christian united in loyalty
to the Lord and to his Word, very quickly the original unity which the Scriptures inculcated
would be discerned and all true children of God, all members of the New Creation, would find
themselves drawn to each other member similarly free, and bound each to the other by the cords
of love far more strongly than are men bound in earthly systems and societies. "The love of
Christ constraineth us" [holds us together-Young's Concordance]. 2 Cor. 5:14"
WT 1884 February Pages 1-2
We belong to no earthly organization; hence, if you should
name the entire list of sects, we should answer, No, to each and to all. We adhere only to that heavenly
organization- "whose names are written ih heaven." (Heb. 12 :23; Luke 10:
20.) All the saints now living, or that have lived during
this age, belonged to OUR CHURCH ORCANIZATION: such are all ONE Church, and there is NO OTHER recognized by the Lord. Hence any earthlv organization which in the least interferes with this-union oi saints is contrary to the teachings of Scripture and opposed to the Lord's will-"that they may be ONE."
At one point they said Jesus should receive "relative worship."
Then they said "relative worship" was forbidden as idolatry.
Of course, the WTS continues to claim to be Christian -- with JWs being the only Christians on earth.
Seems to me that in the 1970's the word "christian" was suddenly sandwiched in between JEHOVAH'S ....and....WITNESSES for some strange reason.
Jehovah's christian Witnesses sounded pretty odd to our ears.
Does anybody remember that?
Yes, and at some point it completely disappeared.
It started dropping off in 1979 to 2 times in 1984 in the WT and then nothing except a quote for a 1971 WT in a 1990 WT.
I was told that a group trademarked that phrase "Jehovah's Christian Witnesses" then and so the WTS had to stop using it....
But the WTS pointedly told congregations not to put it on the KH sign.
*** km 4/79 p. 4 Announcements ***Is it appropriate to have a Kingdom Hall sign saying: “Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses”? So there will be uniformity, the Society encourages all to make their signs read: “Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” (See October 1978 OurKingdomService, page 3, paragraph 5.)
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/78640/1/Jehovahs-Christian-Witnesses
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/8423/1/What-happened-to-Jehovahs-Christian-Witn
Jehovah's Witnesses don't even know what happened to them in 2010, and they were there.
Heck, many still think that the 1914 generation will still have someone alive at the end and my mother, an otherwise intelligent avid reader of all WT literature, still thinks the end will come before 6000 years have passed since Eve's creation. (If you crunch the numbers, there's still time for that to fit.) Many probably think that only men in their 90's are on the Governing Body.
Marked
I never could figure out what they taught about Jesus or Christ and I was born-in. My mind was a melting pot of secular Christianity, Roman Catholicism from the the neighborhood kids, and Jehovah's Witnesses. In fact, I was reading the orange Paradise Lost terror of my youth bk the other night and saw no ready explanation for Jesus. When people called him Lord, I assumed they meant Lord God. I knew they did not believe in the Trinity.
My parents never explained it to me. Neither did my grandparents or aunts and uncles. NO family friends discussed it.
I only realized what it was when I read Ray Franz. A New York Times article reported they had a problem on their hands with Michael Jackson being seen by black teenagers as Christ, the Archangel Michael.
Christology seems the most important component to Christianity. I only see an ethical point without Christology. My gut feeling from reading Paul is that their is no express Trinity but neither is their a disavowal. The question never is resolved. Was it important to early Christians or did Paul's Christians have a world view already. Maybe they were also confused. Perhaps b/c my present church uses the Nicene Creed, I fail to see any support in Paul for this spooky spirit being.
After being here a while, I still don't know what sort of spook Jesus was, according to the WT. I can understand an extraordinary human adopted by God or God. I suppose they have an intermediate view.
Looking back, much that I did not understand is explained by this view of Jesus. Frankly, I don't think I was unique wth such a blended version of Jesus. I wonder what would happen if you questioned the average Witness.
Last Lent we did gospel parallels in church adult study. If I had a gospel parallel book, I could not keep all the details straight. I asked the priest if he had a cheat sheet. He did. What a mix of Cecil B. DeMille, Kantzenzakis. gospels, popular culture, Renaissance, etc. It is head ache inducing.
btt and marking
.Excellent Terry. Thank you!
